The crews of the two ships, the Privateer and the Revenge, stood in the massive ball room. At the front of the room on a stage that rose six foot above the dancing floor the Good Captain, his fair maiden and Captain Bildgepoole stood waiting for the room to fall silent. As the last of the crew, at the very back of the room, began to fall silent the Good Captain spoke, loudly and proudly.

“Matey’s we stand afore ye t’ tell a dire tale. Word has come across th’ tide, a word we cannot ignore.” The Good Captain paused, as much for dramatic effect as to catch a breath. “From th’ darkened depths thar be a terror risin’, a massive beast wit’ eyes like crimson fire.” The crowd breath stood silently waiting on their captain’s words, the Good Captain then continued. “Leviathan has returned t’ devour our world.”

Every pirate in the room let out a collective gasp of shocked breath at exactly the same time, the sound echoed around the room setting the scene even more dramatically that the Good Pirate himself had done.

The majority of the crew standing before the stage had been present the previous time they had met the might beast Leviathan. While those that were not present, like all pirates and sea going men, knew of the legend, knew of the beast, and knew that the crew of the Privateer and the Revenge were the only crew to take on the beast and live to tell their tale.

That legend spoke of the ancient monster, around since before the dawn of time. Three hundred feet from it’s head to it’s tale, eyes like fire, long snaking tentacles that could wrap an entire galleon and drag it under the waves. It had dwelt in a pit of primordial ooze in the very depths of the darkest ocean for centuries.

The Good Captain’s crew had last seen the beast beating a hasty retreat back into the depths of the inky, frothing water, water that only moments before had seemed like it was boiling. The crew of the Revenge had managed to sever one of the beast’s massive meaty tentacles and leave another one severely wounded but it was still not enough to stop it. Why the beast had retreated as it did they had no idea, there was some thoughts that the storm which had been raging throughout Leviathan’s attack suddenly disappearing had something to do with the beast retreating but no one knew for sure.

“Fer many a day we ‘ave been kept a-waitin’ fer this beast t’ rise.” The Good Captain called out to the room. “Fer many a day we ‘ave been a-waitin’ fer our chance t’ take her down.” There was a roar that the Good Captain had to wait several moments to ease down before he could talk again. “But I tell ye now me lads, that jelly belly Terrorsquid will surely die.” Another roar filled the room, again the Good Captain waited for the noise to died down before saying in a loud, almost yelling voice. “Fer me mateys we know that revenge be a dish best server fried! Deep Fried!”

The entire room filled with cheering and the rattle and clang of swords as the crew showed their approval of the Good Captain’s words. Captain Bildgepoole and the Fair Maiden stood either side of the Good Captain although he’d already told them the news of the Terrorsquid’s re-appearance and therefore what he was telling the crew was not a surprise to their ears they too agreed that revenge was needed.

The Revenge and the Privateer set off on their quest of vengeful slaughter, sworn they would take the life of the Terrorsquid on their second meeting. The Revenge as usual sailed ahead by several hundred yards and both ships sailed large black flags from the very top of the main-truck

Unlike their first voyage toward Leviathan’s pit the bad weather started long before they approached the inky black oceans waters. Dark clouds filled the sky, joining together creating a dark canopy above the ships. Thunder crashed loudly in the sky then rolled on for minutes after at the initial clap. Despite being barely able to see in front of them both captains knew they were on a direct course to the Arctic, their target battle ground was between then and the frozen seas.

The first the the two ships had done battle against the mighty Leviathan they’d used depth chargers to lure the beast from her depths. Their basic plans of battle the second time had not changed but their methods had and as they sailed towards Leviathan’s pit the crew readied themselves.

This time instead of gun powder the barrels were filled with a concoction the crew had been working on which they’d named Barrett’s powder, after the pirate who created the explosive mixture. It was a dangerous blend of gun powder, multiple other explosive powders and shrapnel from the blacksmiths workshop. It was a creation that provided a bigger and more destructive blast, a blast that could sink a ship from a depth of fifty feet.

As well as the improvement in depth chargers the crew had also refined the method in which they were fired. Their delayed firing cords worked almost down to an exact second which mean the crew could light the fuses, drop the barrels, flee the blast zone and have every barrel explode almost on cue.

A lot rested on a good first attack and it was hoped that with the new depth chargers and their delayed firing the not only would they drive Leviathan to the surface but they would began causing damage to be beast before she even surfaced.